MY NAME WAS TOM

A lifetime ago, many years in the past,
My name was Tom, I lived on a farm in the South.
A wife named Elizabeth, a fine woman,
Two daughters, Emily and Marie, indeed.
During the Civil War, I took my place alongside many men,
Did not think I would return home, seeing so many die.
Wounded everywhere, families destroyed,
The war ended, I returned to be with my family.
We decide to head West, buy a farm,
Settled down to a new world, many years ago.
Friends I had are no more, I once had a farm,
Nothing is forever as Emily and Marie had grown.
Daughters once loved by me married and had children of their own,
My wife got older as did I, back in a time.
One day sickness took hold of my life,
I did die once upon a time.
My wife Elizabeth was now much alone,
Working the farm I once owned.
Not so many years had passed, memories are in the past,
Elizabeth, my once fine wife, it was now her time to die, too again be mine.
Life’s clock keeps ticking, things change, disappear,
Emily and Marie, those daughters of mine,
They had wonderful lives, they had their days to see heaven in the sky.
My name was Tom, I had a life,
A fine wife and two loving daughters by the names of Emily and Marie,
My name was Tom, now we are all gone.

Keith Garrett